Hokule'a on the way to Tahiti 1976. Photo / Ed George / National Geographic Image Collection
Hokule'a on the way to Tahiti 1976. Photo / Ed George / National Geographic Image Collection
Forty years after its historic first visit, the double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūle’a is returning to Waitangi next month, along with its sister vessel Hikianalia.
Their journey, direct from Rarotonga, is part of the Moananuiākea Voyage - a multi-year Pacific circumnavigation led by the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) tostrengthen ancestral knowledge and cultural ties across Polynesia.
The 1985 visit of Hōkūle’a to Waitangi marked a turning point in Māori voyaging history and the global revival of traditional Polynesian non-instrument navigation, using stars, winds, and waves. The crew was welcomed as Ngāti Ruawāhia - the “sixth tribe” of Te Tai Tokerau - by Sir James Tau Henare of Te Tii Marae.
Weather permitting, there will be a powhiri between 3 pm and 6 pm that day to welcome the canoes. A dawn service the next day will unveil a new carving representing Ngāti Ruawāhia and pay tribute to Henare, Sir Hector Busby, and Myron “Pinky” Thompson - influential past voyaging leaders.
The Hokule'a on the Hawke's Bay leg of its 2015 New Zealand visit. Photo / NZME
This will be Hōkūleʻa’s third visit to Aotearoa. It also came here in 2014 during the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage. For many people, this year’s arrival will be the first opportunity in over a decade to welcome both Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia together.
The canoes will be at Waitangi until November 16 and will be the focus of events hosted by the Te Tiriti o Waitangi Marae, in collaboration with PVS and Kamehameha Schools.
On November 18, the canoes will sail to Auckland, where Ngāti Whātua Orākei will welcome them at Waitematā Harbour.
While docked near the New Zealand Maritime Museum, the crew will host community visits and dockside tours.
Nainoa Thompson, PVS chief executive officer and master navigator who led the 1985 voyage, will speak on November 19 at the World Indigenous Conference of Education (at Auckland’s Aotea Centre between November 16 - 20).
Thompson’s presentation will highlight the 40-year relationship between Hawaiian and Māori navigators and how traditional knowledge guides sustainable futures.
Later that week, weather permitting, the canoes will sail north to Aurere, home of the late Busby, as a further tribute to him.
The canoes will remain in New Zealand for about six months, allowing time for educational exchanges, maintenance, and dry-dock work while waiting out the South Pacific cyclone season.
The next legs of the voyage begin in April, next year (subs: 2026) and will include Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa and later Melanesia and Micronesia.
Updates and real-time tracking are available at www.hokulea.com and @hokuleacrew on social media.
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in journalism, much of which she spent reporting on the courts in Gisborne and on the East Coast.
